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Feb 10 In love with Doves

WE ARE STARTING TO THINK about a new section in our website which highlights some of the things in the Lead Graffiti collections.

One of the outstanding pieces is an opening folio page from Genesis 1 : 1, printed for the Doves Bible. It was a gift from Ray's students on his 60th birthday back in 2006. We pull this specimen out for almost every workshop and tour group at the studio. Our folio is an original that was never sewn into an actual book as it does not have the holes punched in the fold required for binding.

Printed in London in 1905, this page is considered one of the top 12 most beautiful pieces of handset typography ever composed and printed. Note the lack of hyphens at the ends of the lines AND the lack of white "rivers" of wordspacing throughout the text. Emory Walker and Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson were very, very good at type composition and equally bitter business partners.

On top of that there's Edward Johnston's exquisitely handcarved IN THE BEGINNING with that absolutely stunning and unexpected cap I. It should be noted that Johnston was teacher and mentor to Eric Gill (of Gill Sans fame) .

As we get further into this, we will add more items from our little collection that we think you'd enjoy.

The return of the Doves type

RAY RECENTLY FOUND a thorough 20-minute podcast you might enjoy that describes the creation, destruction, and recreation of the Doves type :